Ann Wright

Ann Wright
Wright in Staten Island, New York in November 2011
Birth name	Mary Ann Wright
Born	1947 (age 69–70)
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	Sierra Leone Civil War

Mary Ann Wright (born 1947) is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Wright was also a passenger on the Challenger 1, which along with the Mavi Marmara, was part of the Gaza flotilla.

Wright grew up in Bentonville, Arkansas, in what she referred to as "just a normal childhood". She attended the University of Arkansas where she was recruited in the U.S. Army. Wright earned a master's and law degrees, while she worked for the U.S. Army. Her law degree comes from the University of Arkansas and her master's degree in national security affairs is from the U.S. Naval War College.

Wright earned a master's degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and later participated in reconstruction efforts after U.S. military actions in Grenada and Somalia.

Wright was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 1982 to 1984. One of her duties during that time was to draw up contingency plans for invading several countries, one of which was Iraq. She would later express dismay over what she considered the dismissal of such carefully laid plans in the actual invasion of Iraq in 2003.